Registration form - The Lean PhD in humanities and law

Thursday 7 April 2022, 15.00-16.30 p.m. Drinks afterwards.

Location: on campus, TBA

Your PhD is a startup, your expertise is a niche market, and your supervisor is a business angel. According to geographer and McKinsey associate partner Dr Julian Kirchherr, PhD candidates should learn from tech entrepreneurs. In his book The Lean PhD (Palgrave, 2018), he shows how he employed tactics from the business world during his PhD at Oxford. The result: it took him only 22 months to become a doctor, and in this period he published no less than six peer-reviewed articles. According to Kirchherr, his methods are not only applicable to the social and natural sciences, but also – or especially – in the humanities and law.

During this event, we will discuss the current problems and trends in PhD trajectories. Will the rise of the article-based dissertation make the PhD trajectory more manageable and impactful? How can we move beyond the poisonous romanticism of the lonely academic? And should we all go Lean and embrace the ethos of the business world?

After a 30-minutes lecture by Kirchherr, PhD candidates and supervisors (professor Willem van Boom and professor Masja van Meeteren) from law and humanities will discuss his provocative argument. The discussion will be led by dr. Lize Glas. This event is organised by the graduate schools of the humanities (GSH) and law (GSL) of the Radboud University. PhD candidates from other faculties are also cordially invited, if space permits.